The new database patching for Oracle 12cR2 (12.2) and above using new RUs and RURs patches replaces the old patching concept. Means, the legacy terms and patches Patchset, Patchset Update (PSU), Database Bundle Patch, Critical Patch Update (CPU) will no longer be meaningful for 12.2 database software. The new patches will be applied in the same way using opatch utility with ability using RAC Rolling or Data Guard/GG switchover techniques.

The major points about the new patching concept are below:

New quarterly Release Update (RUs)
– More aggressive patching for test / dev and early production roll-outs -> more testing required
– Released quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)
– Proactive, highly tested bundles of critical fixes
– Include all security fixes for the same quarterly cycle
– Enable customers to avoid known issues.
– Might contain small, important new features
– Query optimizer fixes that can change execution plans might be included but must be enabled manually by the customer after patching.
– Separate Database RU, Grid Infrastructure RU, and OJVM RU available

New quarterly Release Update Revisions (RURs)
– A bit similar to former PSUs
– Less aggressive pathing for stable production environments -> less testing required
– Released quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) Read more »

JavaOne & Oracle OpenWorld (OOW) conference is one of the biggest and most important technology conference in the world. It hosts tens of thousands of attendees as well as millions online who want to connect, learn and explore industry trends and breakthroughs driven by IT technology. The conference offers more than 2,500 educational sessions, hundreds of demos and hands-on labs, plus exhibitions from more than 400 partners and customers from around the world.

The conference does not focus purely on databases. There are many more interesting technology areas presented from HW, OS and software development to modern IT trends like Cloud, Big Data, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, etc. But what about the database? Is Oracle not a pure database provider? No, it was probably long time back, but NOT ANY MORE.

Below are a few major topics that were dominating at the last OOW

Cloud

Oracle is aggressively scaling its cloud business and effectively catching-up with competitors like Amazon (AWS), Azur and Salesforce introducing at OOW17 an array of new Cloud offerings and enhancements and demonstrating its cost efficiency and unbeatable Infrastructure performance. At the same time comparing these all the way against AWS. For example, Larry Ellison (Oracle Founder & CTO) stated that Oracle Cloud would cost at least 50% less of your AWS bill and they would write this in the contract.
The recent launch of Oracle data Centers in Frankfurt supporting European Availability region can only confirm serious Oracle intention in the Cloud business. I personally think that soon only a few large Cloud providers will cover the major Cloud market that in turn will be driven mostly by Software Cloud Services (SaaS and partly PaaS). And there is a big chance that Oracle will be soon in the Cloud leaders caused by a large range of own quality software, modern Java development platform as well as own cost efficient HW, OS and Virtualization stack.

This month I had a chance to talk with the Oracle database In-Memory development team at the Oracle Headquarter in Redwood Shores and meet there the Oracle product managers, VP of Oracle In-Memory and the mother of Oracle Query Optimizer Maria Colgan. In a 3 hours workshop we discussed the current challenges in implementing new database and in-memory computing technologies, talked about new trends and possibilities in the future product versions.

I really liked the atmosphere of the workshop, the openness of the Oracle development team and the constructive discussion that we could have there. This certainly can help us to be prepared and build a database platform of tomorrow that will be capable to cope with enormous data growth and tough availability and performance requirements that come from the customers.

Thanks to Maria, Tirthankar, Raj, Andy, Shasank and entire Oracle In-Memory team to make it happen.

The In-Memory Column Store feature that was introduced by Oracle in the database version 12c (12.1.0.2) brings the solution for accelerating performance of database-driven business decision-making to real-time speeds. Since it is an extra-license feature for which Oracle makes you pay around 50% on top of your CPU license (similar to RAC option), you probably ask yourself a few valid questions. Don’t we cache everything already in memory anyway? Is it really required for my application, my company? Will it work for my workload at all? In this post I’ll give you a short guideline and introduction into Oracle database In-Memory feature.

First of all me personally and so probably you do not know any database that works only on disk. Indeed we cache most of our data, code and intermediate results in memory already. Furthermore there are some extra Oracle database performance features that help you to achieve that fairly efficiently, for example:

The key point of Oracle In-Memory is not “What to cache” but “How”. So the major difference of Oracle In-Memory Column Store is that it enables individual database segments to be loaded into memory in the compressed columnar format. This technique enables segment scans to perform much faster than the traditional on-disk formats, providing performance boost for analytical and reporting workload.

In case you want to engage Oracle Support in order to receive help in an issue resolution you have to submit a Service Request (SR) at My Oracle Support website (MOS). Below I share some best practices in this area collected from different training courses and my own experience.

Before creating Oracle MOS SR

When you have a question or issue, need help the solution may already be available on MOS or Internet.
So before creating an SR you can do a quick search in the MOS Knowledge Base and MOS Community Space, use OTN Forum or even Google it. I recommend however using MOS Community or Internet only if all below points apply:

If you have a low severity question or if you are interested in discovering how to do something

If you have been unable to locate an answer in the MOS Knowledge Base

When you have knowledge or experiences to share with your peers

If the issue is critical, do not wait! Submit the SR immediately while in parallel doing your own investigation (ideally having 2 resources for these 2 tasks). In this case even if you find a solution yourself, it will be anyway worth to validate it through MOS SR.

Creating a well-defined SR

1) Create an MOS SR using following methods:

Using a relevant System/Target that is managed in MOS via Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM): <Systems> Tab -> Right-Click on System or Target -> Create SR

Using “Create SR Like Selected SR” (best method in case a similar SR for the same target exists already)

Using “Create SR” button to create SR from scratch

Oracle Support MOS SR Create Step

2) Provide all the necessary information that enables the SR to be correctly assigned to the engineer with the best skillset to resolve your issue.

Oracle Support MOS SR – Problem Step

SR Step – Problem

Problem Summary = Tittle of the SR (use as short SR explanation; try to be descriptive to distinguish it in the SR List later; include Error codes)

To speed up SR creation you can Autofill the Configuration/Software section using “SR Profile” or “Existing SR”.

Choose carefully [Problem type] to ensure the SR assigned to the most appropriate and qualified support engineer available which will minimize the potential number of SR transfers and decrease the resolution time.